Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin mastered a unified strike of the Seven Slashes of Opening Heavens, then accepted Tutu's rainbow fruit and advanced to internal refinement. As Chen Lin, Yuan Zhimeng, Tutu, and Commander Jin traveled toward the Fifth Path, Black Eagle Country forces ambushed them, and Chen Lin charged into the enemy ranks.

• Chen Lin merged the seven stages of his saber technique into one slash, opened a tiny rift in space, and was badly injured by the chaotic aura that emerged.
• After recovering, Chen Lin agreed to leave Xuelian City with Yuan Zhimeng, who chose to risk the trial rather than remain behind.
• Tutu gave Chen Lin a rainbow fruit, which cleansed his body and helped him form all seven types of hidden force, reaching internal refinement.
• Three days into their journey, Chen Lin's party neared the Fifth Path, where Black Eagle Country soldiers surrounded them and launched a rain of arrows.
• Chen Lin deployed an iron-mesh umbrella to shield the group, then entered the Spirit Infusion Realm and charged the attacking soldiers with his short saber.

Chen Lin and Yuan Zhimeng reached the Fifth Path, where Chen Lin met the last survivor near the Pagoda and learned that treasures from Outer Heaven became junk in the Abandoned Land. The old man questioned Chen Lin about escaping, and Chen Lin challenged his claim by mentioning Bai Yujing.

• Chen Lin killed the Black Eagle Guard commander, drove off the remaining guards, and led Tutu and Commander Jin to safety in the Fifth Path.
• Tutu paid Chen Lin with a red crystal, an imperial edict, and healing medicine before leaving with Commander Jin.
• Chen Lin and Yuan Zhimeng searched the Fifth Path for half a month and reached the seven-story Pagoda.
• Chen Lin called out for the person who had pleaded for help and met a withered old man who said he was the only survivor.
• The old man offered Chen Lin items from a pile of discarded objects as treasures from Outer Heaven and said such treasures became junk in the Abandoned Land.
• Chen Lin asked whether higher regions and stronger cultivators existed, then challenged the old man's claims by saying Bai Yujing had escaped the Abandoned Land.

Chen Lin learned that the Rivers and Mountains Sword had helped Bai Yujing escape the Abandoned Land and resisted the Pagoda’s strange aura. After rejecting a risky method to claim the Pagoda, he waited with Yuan Zhimeng for its nighttime changes, and she climbed up to touch the Round Bead.

• The old man collapsed under the Pagoda’s influence, while Chen Lin used the Open Heavens Secret Art to resist the aura and retreat with Yuan Zhimeng.
• The old man told Chen Lin that the Rivers and Mountains Sword had helped Bai Yujing escape and offered him a scroll for claiming the Pagoda in exchange for a promise to take him out.
• Yuan Zhimeng identified the scroll’s blood-guiding method as highly dangerous, so Chen Lin returned it and refused to refine the Pagoda.
• Chen Lin and Yuan Zhimeng waited for nightfall, discussed treasure-refining methods, and noticed that the Pagoda’s fragrance seemed to stir Yuan Zhimeng’s transcendent power.
• Yuan Zhimeng approached the Pagoda, leaped to its peak, and placed her hand on the Round Bead.

Chen Lin refined the Pagoda into his soul, recovered control over supernatural power, and escaped with Yuan Zhimeng and the old man in a fighter jet. He established Kaiyuan Country in Qingyuan Commandery, appointed its leaders, and flew toward Black Eagle Country.

• Yuan Zhimeng failed to refine the sphere, but Chen Lin used the Unnamed Treasure-Refining Formula and absorbed it into his soul, making the Pagoda vanish.
• The Pagoda’s fusion briefly restored Chen Lin’s control over supernatural power, allowing him to retrieve a fighter jet and a heavy machine gun from his Gourd Grotto-Heaven.
• Chen Lin agreed to take the old man along in exchange for his pocket-watch Secret Order, and the three fled by fighter jet as big-headed eagles attacked them.
• Chen Lin used the fighter jet to defeat Yue Country soldiers in Qingyuan Commandery, rescued captives, and declared himself the Founding Emperor of Kaiyuan Country.
• Chen Lin appointed Sima Yun as Empress and assigned other rescued people government and military posts, then left Yuan Zhimeng and the old man to hold the city while he flew toward Black Eagle Country.

After stabilizing his rule in the Abandoned Land, Chen Lin flew to the sealed valley exit with Wang Laoliu and bargained with the outsiders gathered there for their help and treasures. He spent a month cultivating with spirit liquid, formed true qi, and then received a new Ascension Trial task.

• Chen Lin left for the valley with Yuan Zhimeng and Wang Laoliu after his regime in the Abandoned Land had stabilized.
• Wang Laoliu warned Chen Lin about the Shadow Scholar’s inheritance and gave him a Great Strength Pill to help break the valley’s barrier.
• Chen Lin met Gleiter, Lu Jiuxuan, Ling Baichi, Gu Damao, and Mo Yi at the sealed valley, then traded his help escaping for Secret Orders, a talisman, a promise of artifact refining, and spirit liquid.
• Chen Lin asked the group to guard him while he attempted to reach the Grandmaster Realm and spent a month cultivating inside the fighter jet.
• Chen Lin formed true qi, but a voice selected him for new tasks and announced that his progress would determine his evaluation and rewards or punishments.

Chen Lin escaped the Abandoned Land, received an Excellent rating for the first trial, and entered the second trial with Xiao He as his chosen partner. He began inspecting his rewards while preparing for a team confrontation that would start in one year and six months.

• A Second Heavenly Dao gave Chen Lin five tasks, leaving him uncertain about its motives and its conflict with the previous Heavenly Dao.
• Chen Lin used the Open Heavens Secret Art to break the valley barrier, then learned from two attendants that the Empress was pregnant and sent them away with the fighter jet and a booklet on technology.
• Chen Lin discovered that saying “Open Sesame” three times opened the exit, warned the others about the password, and passed through the cliff alone.
• Chen Lin entered the second trial after completing three first-trial tasks, earning an Excellent rating and rewards that included a Resurrection Ring and three chances to summon the Flower Goddess.
• Chen Lin designated Xiao He as his partner and learned that the second trial would begin in one year and six months, with cultivation gains during that period counting toward his progress.

Chen Lin inspected his trial rewards and abilities, then joined a ten-person team aboard a boat when the Second Trial began. Xiao He became captain, led the team to destroy an enemy boat, and revealed that teams could receive different special tasks.

• Chen Lin inspected the Resurrection Ring, energy stones, Minor Realm Pill, and Sound Transmission Horn, then confirmed that his cultivated abilities and expanded Ten Attempts One Hit still worked in the Trial Space while technological weapons did not.
• The Second Trial began, and Chen Lin found himself aboard a boat with Xiao He and eight other cultivators; he proposed an anonymous vote to choose a temporary captain.
• The team elected Xiao He captain, and she spotted an approaching enemy boat before anyone else did.
• Xiao He rejected Xiao Wuwang's proposed alliance and destroyed the enemy boat with one attack, after which Chen Lin and the others killed the survivors and collected their spoils.
• Xiao He appointed Moxi vice-captain to oversee the spoils, then told Chen Lin by voice transmission that teams had different tasks and that some members received special assignments.

Chen Lin discovered that Abu had received a side quest and learned that Destroyers were tasked with destroying teams, while he used the trial’s long stretches of watch duty to cultivate, cook, and fish. After more than three years, he caught a mermaid named Mingyue instead of the treasure he sought, and the Heavenly Dao assigned him a quest to obtain her rainbow-colored tears.

• Xiao He ordered the team to keep watch in pairs and warned Chen Lin to watch for suspicious members, while Chen Lin paired with Abu and learned that Abu had a side quest and had voted for the Purgatory Monarch under his control.
• Abu explained that Destroyers could switch teams after becoming their team’s sole survivor, and Chen Lin accepted Abu as a subordinate and gave him cultivation techniques and divine abilities.
• Chen Lin caught a fire-breathing fish, discovered that his cooking talent worked in the trial, and earned spirit stones by selling food to the other team members.
• Over more than three years, Chen Lin and the team defeated three other teams while Chen Lin repeatedly fished with the Lake of Talent’s energy, hoping to catch a Star-Marked Exquisite Treasure Chest.
• Chen Lin caught a mermaid who called herself Mingyue and declared him her slave, but she escaped into the sea after dismissing his attacks.
• The Heavenly Dao assigned Chen Lin a side quest to obtain as many rainbow-colored Mermaid Tears as possible, with failure affecting his final evaluation and bringing punishment.

Chen Lin used Mo Yi’s Frog Toy Secret Order to enter a hidden treasure hall, where he took a Star-Marked Exquisite Treasure Chest before its mermaid owner returned. Back beside the boat, he opened the chest, which absorbed his Soul Power as its star mark flashed.

• Chen Lin defeated the Purgatory Monarch in a brief fight, then spared him and warned him to watch his words.
• Chen Lin told Xiao He about the mermaid and his search for an Exquisite Treasure Chest, and she suggested his destiny power might have produced a clue instead of a direct reward.
• After more than half a year without finding the mermaid or a chest, Chen Lin activated Mo Yi’s Frog Toy Secret Order and followed it beneath the sea to a hidden passage.
• Chen Lin entered a golden hall filled with treasures and took a distinctive Exquisite Treasure Chest just as the mermaid returned; she noticed his scent and found another treasure missing.
• Chen Lin returned beside the boat, confirmed the chest bore a Star Mark, and opened it underwater, where it drew in his Soul Power before opening.

Chen Lin and Xiao He’s team sailed onward after repelling a mermaid, then found an island where more than a hundred trial takers had been slaughtered. A Soul-Pulling Guide possessed the Purgatory Monarch and killed Bai Xixi before Xiao He destroyed him; the Guide then entered Chen Lin, who sealed it as a familiar woman arrived and addressed him.

• Chen Lin received an admission ticket to Dandian Paradise from the Star-Marked Exquisite Treasure Chest, then joined Xiao He and the others in driving off a mermaid who had attacked their ship.
• Xiao He told Chen Lin that she had broken through, and ordered the team to sail at full speed; three months later, they encountered an island surrounded by ships.
• Xiao He led the team ashore despite Long Zequan’s warning, and they found more than a hundred recently killed trial takers.
• A black spiral possessed the Purgatory Monarch, who attacked his companions and killed Bai Xixi before Xiao He dissolved him with her Lotus Phantom.
• The Soul-Pulling Guide entered Chen Lin, and he sealed it inside a soul cage; then a woman landed nearby and greeted him as her dear Chen.

Chen Lin and his team fought a mermaid who copied figures from his memories, and Chen took command after Xiao He let two teammates die. He split the team with Xiao He to search the Nine Provinces, then received a Minor Realm Pill and decided to save it for a later breakthrough.

• Madam White Bone appeared and attacked Chen Lin's team with the Soul-Pulling Guide, while Xiao He revealed that more enemies were nearby.
• Chen Lin destroyed the risen corpses with his Runic Puppets, triggering a side quest to become renowned across the Nine Provinces, and he and Xiao He forced the mermaid to flee.
• The surviving team members looked to Chen Lin rather than Xiao He, so Chen accepted the captaincy and divided the members between himself and Xiao He.
• Xiao He gave Chen Lin a Conscription Order and asked him to look for the Shadow Scholar, while Chen gave her a Sound Transmission Horn before their groups sailed apart.
• Long Zequan found a Minor Realm Pill among the spoils and gave it to Chen Lin, who chose to wait before using it.

After breaking through to Great Perfection of the Law Origin Realm, Chen Lin repelled the mermaid again and encountered the Divine Dragon Gang. He slaughtered its first attackers and drove off its golden dragon vessel with the God-Slaying Seal, while a Semi-Void expert led the gang.

• Chen Lin advanced to Great Perfection of the Law Origin Realm by breaking through to mid-stage and consuming both Minor Realm Pills.
• Chen Lin repelled the returning mermaid with his saber, provoking her to curse him and promise to return.
• A dragon-headed ship belonging to the Divine Dragon Gang demanded that Chen Lin and his companions submit to inspection, but Chen Lin refused and challenged its leader.
• Chen Lin killed more than thirty Law Origin Mid-Stage attackers with one strike, then used the God-Slaying Seal against the Golden Dragon Guard and their Early Semi-Void leader.
• The Divine Dragon Gang activated its golden dragon vessel, but the God-Slaying Seal immobilized it, and the dragon fled.

Chen Lin defeated the Dragon Ship’s crew, found a Rubik’s Cube Fragment hidden inside the ship, and spent months hunting trial takers while waiting for Mermaid. When Mermaid launched a devastating attack, Chen Lin’s talent ability turned her strike into a courtship agreement, and she landed aboard the ship as his lover.

• Golden Dragon fled from Chen Lin, and Chen Lin killed the middle-aged man who tried to escape while the other passengers scattered.
• Chen Lin took the Precious Tool Dragon Ship, then ordered Long Zequan, Lingling, and Abu to dismantle its middle section after Abu sensed something unusual inside.
• Lingling spotted a pale patch in a metal fragment, and Chen Lin uncovered a Rubik’s Cube Fragment that Abu confirmed was the source of his strange sensation.
• Chen Lin told the others to keep the fragment secret and search for more, then had them rebuild the ship and set sail under a Kaiyuan banner.
• Over the following months, Chen Lin repeatedly drove Mermaid away and hunted trial takers while waiting for another encounter.
• Mermaid unleashed a Dao-level sword strike, but Chen Lin used his talent ability to propose to her, and she accepted before landing on the ship.

Chen Lin learned that the Heavenly Dao had issued quests to kill him after he obtained the Star Mark Treasure Chest, and he questioned Yilan about the Endless Rubik's Cube and the Shadow Scholar. Yilan gave him the fragments she had collected for the Shadow Scholar, and Chen Lin ended by asking whether removing her Soul-Pulling Guide would convince her that he was the Shadow Scholar reincarnated.

• Chen Lin used his Soul Master ability to question four Yin-Yang Sect members, learned that the Heavenly Dao had placed a kill quest on him, and captured them for Soul Searches.
• Chen Lin discovered that the kill quests had appeared after he obtained the Star Mark Treasure Chest and suspected the chest had triggered the Heavenly Dao's hostility.
• Chen Lin showed Yilan a Rubik's Cube Fragment, and she identified it as an Endless Rubik's Cube Fragment from Dandian Paradise and said it was linked to the Shadow Scholar.
• Yilan explained that the Shadow Scholar had given her an inheritance and asked her to collect fragments, then handed Chen Lin the more than sixteen fragments she had found.
• Yilan revealed that the Shadow Scholar had taught her the Soul-Pulling Guide, and Chen Lin asked whether removing it would convince her he was the Shadow Scholar reincarnated.

Chen Lin and Yilan used soul dual cultivation to cleanse the Shadow Scholar’s imprint from her Soul-Pulling Guide, then parted after Yilan gained immunity to Chen Lin’s talent ability. As Chen Lin’s linked energy sources awakened, he broke through to the Semi-Void Realm and discovered that the Small Pagoda responded to his new power.

• Chen Lin used the Soul-Destroying Finger and soul dual cultivation to cleanse Yilan’s Soul-Pulling Guide, eventually removing its lingering imprint through a powerful fusion of their energies.
• Chen Lin discovered that his energy sources had become linked, while Yilan recovered and gave him the items he sought before leaving to pursue her own path.
• Chen Lin ordered Long Zequan and the others to continue across Qingwu Province, despite Long Zequan’s concern that their journey was strangely uneventful.
• Chen Lin circulated his newly linked energy sources with the Seven Absolutes Technique, broke through to the Semi-Void Realm, and awakened a clear response from the Small Pagoda.

Chen Lin used the Devouring Heaven Pagoda to capture Elder Yu and the Yin-Yang Sect experts, then learned how the treasure worked and discovered his children had fled toward Lanzhu Province. After reaching the province, he left his team to search alone and found a settlement whose wall blocked his soul perception.

• Chen Lin deployed the Devouring Heaven Pagoda and trapped Elder Yu and everyone aboard the three flying boats.
• Chen Lin tested the pagoda, learned its limits and energy requirements, and decided to keep Elder Yu alive so he could seek information about his children.
• Chen Lin learned that Chen Siyang and Wen Siyue had fled south toward Lanzhu Province, then traveled there by sea while searching for family and friends.
• Chen Lin ordered Long Zequan and the others to spread his reputation, then left the Dragon Ship to look for Rubik's Cube Fragments.
• Chen Lin approached a small settlement and found that his soul perception could not penetrate its walls.

Chen Lin entered a bustling city that clouded people’s minds and suspected it was a powerful Bizarre Scenario, then followed clues back to the Immortal Spirit Tavern. Qiu Mufan recognized him but seemed bound by the tavern’s rules, leaving Chen Lin to seek answers through its wine auction.

• Chen Lin resisted the stallholder’s influence, traded bizarre coins for a White Jade Fruit, and concluded the city was a Bizarre Scenario where dream silver served as currency.
• Chen Lin’s steamed buns failed to attract buyers, so he exchanged bizarre coins for dream silver and considered whether the city might be connected to the Dream Realm.
• Chen Lin entered the Immortal Spirit Tavern and found Qiu Mufan and the same talking bird from his time in the Lower Realm.
• Qiu Mufan explained the tavern’s wine rules and said the winner of the later auction could make a request if their wine released spiritual light.
• Chen Lin bought the Mutual Affection wine, recognized it as the same wine Qiu Mufan had served him before, and drank it.
• The wine filled Chen Lin’s thoughts with Luo Qinglan, Xiaocao, and Fairy Yaochi before its effect faded, and Qiu Mufan asked whether he had found the one he loved.

Chen Lin won an exceptional wine at the Immortal Spirit Tavern and met Qiu Mufan inside her talent domain, where she explained the city’s strange rules and shared her suspicions about its ruler. After learning that Leng Yue and True Lord Wanmeng were in the city, Chen Lin left the domain to seek them out.

• Chen Lin won the second wine pot at auction, drank the wine, and entered Qiu Mufan’s talent domain.
• Qiu Mufan told Chen Lin she had been trapped in the city for thousands of years and could remain clearheaded only inside her domain.
• Chen Lin explained the ascension trial, and Qiu Mufan decided she would still try to leave despite the risk of failing the first trial.
• Qiu Mufan suspected the space’s ruler was connected to the Dream Horse and said everyone in the city had gained something from encountering it.
• Qiu Mufan identified Leng Yue and True Lord Wanmeng as residents of the city, while warning Chen Lin that killing anyone there would bring heavenly tribulation.
• Chen Lin ended Qiu Mufan’s talent domain and returned with her to the Tavern.

Chen Lin found Leng Yue in Xianjue Pavilion and discovered that she and Lu Xiaoyi had been living in the city, whose strange power had altered their perception of it. After learning Leng Yue had completed only two of the First Trial's five tasks and believed she could leave by taming a horse, Chen Lin began investigating a possible escape route.

• Chen Lin entered Xianjue Pavilion and was surprised to find Lu Xiaoyi, his sworn eldest sister from the Tiancang Realm, alive and acquainted with Leng Yue.
• Lu Xiaoyi told Chen Lin that Xin Yueling had entered the Eternal Realm and that Zhang Zhenqian had reached true realm completion, then gave him a communication talisman and urged him to return.
• Leng Yue recognized Chen Lin as her master, and he took her upstairs to question her privately about the city's influence and her trial progress.
• Chen Lin learned that Leng Yue remembered her past but believed the city was a cultivation holy land and said she had completed two of the First Trial's five tasks before giving up on further trials.
• Leng Yue recalled a grassland projection and many horses appearing outside the city, and she proposed that taming one might provide a way to leave.

Chen Lin learned from Leng Yue and True Lord Wanmeng that taming a Dream Horse in the Floating Life Grassland was the way out of Floating Life City, but the grassland’s entrance appeared unpredictably. He went to the Mission Hall to investigate a forbidden task that might lead there, then faced a pawnshop proprietor eager to profit from his preparations.

• Chen Lin questioned Leng Yue about the Floating Life Grassland, the city’s rules, and True Lord Wanmeng, then left to meet him at the Gathering Treasure Bank.
• True Lord Wanmeng told Chen Lin that a tamed Dream Horse could carry him out of the city, but the grassland’s entrance appeared at irregular intervals and a forbidden task might offer another route.
• True Lord Wanmeng gave Chen Lin three thousand taels of dream silver, accepted his Bizarre Coins, and advised him to choose the last forbidden task if he had no other choice.
• Chen Lin found the last task, which required entering the Gate of Disorder and seeking the White Cloud Token, and suspected the Shadow Scholar had arranged it for him.
• Wei Xinan, proprietor of the Number One Pawnshop, offered to take Chen Lin’s treasures as collateral for resources, but Chen Lin refused.